Far north Qld on cyclone watch

The weather bureau is monitoring a tropical low off north Queensland in the far northern Coral Sea that it says could develop into a cyclone within the next few days.

The low is about 1,000 kilometres north-east of Cairns and is slowly moving in a south, south-westerly direction.

Senior forecaster Amber Young says the system will probably cross the Cape York Peninsula somewhere above Cooktown.

"A moderate chance of developing into a cyclone today, so we're looking at somewhere between 20 and 50 per cent," she said.

"Then into Tuesday and Wednesday we have increased the potential of it developing into a cyclone up into that high region but that's over 50 per cent, so it's 50/50 at this stage."

She says it could affect areas like Lockhart River over the next few days.

"Not moving anywhere particularly fast - in fact we will see it drift a little further south during this morning and potentially move in a south-westerly direction for the remainder of today but still well offshore from the Australian coastline," she said.